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    Tuesday, December 16
    Stock Market

    Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq notch records on AI buzz even as government shutdown drags on

    11 Mins Read


    US stocks rose on Thursday as the AI trade continued to power a push for fresh records amid new buzz around OpenAI (OPAI.PVT). Meanwhile, investors kept an eye on developments in Washington, weighing the chances of a lengthy US government shutdown.

    The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.4%. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) gained 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.2%. All three major averages posted new records.

    Stocks rose one day after the S&P 500 closed above 6,700 for the first time. A wave of good news from the AI sector lifted chip stocks worldwide, with Nvidia (NVDA) rising to a record high. AMD (AMD) and SK Hynix (000660.KS, HXSCL) also gained.

    OpenAI’s (OPAI.PVT) valuation soared to $500 billion after an employee share sale, boosting tech rally hopes despite fears of an AI bubble. The ChatGPT maker ousted Elon Musk’s SpaceX (SPAX.PVT) as the most valuable startup in the world.

    Markets have so far been unperturbed by the US government shutdown, which looks set to drag on at least until the end of the week. President Trump is amping up his rhetoric against Democrats, threatening to fire “thousands” of federal workers and canceling billions of dollars in federal funding to blue states.

    Trump said he is meeting on Thursday with OMB Director Russ Vought, who has been leading White House strategy in the shutdown, to discuss which “Democrat Agencies” should be cut.

    In any case, Friday’s scheduled release of the September jobs report is all but certain to be delayed. That has Wall Street looking elsewhere during the federal data blackout, as Fed policymakers have indicated cracks in the labor market will loom large in their October rate decision.

    Private data from the firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released Thursday found hiring plans at their lowest level since 2009, even as layoffs fell. The report provided more evidence of the softening “low hire, low fire” labor market after Wednesday’s ADP report. Investors remain near-unanimous on bets for a cut at the Fed’s next meeting.

    Elsewhere in corporates, Tesla (TSLA) shares took a hit despite a record sales quarter as investors turned focus to future performance without the federal EV tax credit.

    LIVE 25 updates

    • Ines Ferré

      Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq notch new records

      US stocks climbed to all-time highs as enthusiasm over OpenAI’s (OPAI.PVT) $500 billion valuation helped tech equities move higher.

      The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) rose 0.4% to rise to a record high, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose just above the flatline to post its own all-time record close.

      The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) also rose 0.1%, setting a new high.

      Bitcoin (BTC-USD) moved above $120,000 per token as momentum across cryptocurrencies grew.

    • Ines Ferré

      Bitcoin climbs above $120,000 as momentum across cryptocurrencies gain steam

      Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rose above $121,000 on Thursday as momentum across cryptocurrencies gained steam.

      The world’s largest token rose 3%, to extend 2025’s rally to 29%.

    • Ines Ferré

      GMC’s higher-end trucks and SUVs are driving General Motors’ bottom line

      Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

      Read more here.

    • Ines Ferré

      Bitcoin rises as investors eye ‘Uptober’ bounce

      Bitcoin (BTC-USD) rose 2% on Thursday to gain for a second session in a row as investors eyed “Uptober” as a seasonally favorable period for cryptocurrencies.

      October has historically been bitcoin’s strongest month, while the world’s largest cryptocurrency has also been strong in the fourth quarter.

    • Ines Ferré

      Gold takes breather following massive rally

      Gold (GC=F) took a breather on Thursday after a monstrous rally this year.

      The precious metal has been trading at record highs amid a US government shutdown.

      Aakash Doshi, head of gold strategy at State Street Investment Management, told Yahoo Finance that he expects the precious metal to reach $4,000 per ounce in the fourth quarter.

      “Earlier this week, we already highlighted that $4,000 an ounce is not only a question of if but when, and we do think that that’s plausible this month or certainly in the fourth quarter, assigning a 75% probability of breaking above $4,000 an ounce,” Doshi said.

      “Where we go forward from there, there could be some modest retrenchment. November and December are negative seasonals for gold ETFs in particular,” he added.

      Gold futures are up roughly 48% year to date.

    • Ines Ferré

      Oil slides 2%, on pace for fourth day in a row of declines

      Oil prices fell again on Thursday, marking a fourth straight day of declines amid worries of oversupply.

      West Texas Intermediate (CL=F) futures fell roughly 2% to hover near $60 per barrel. Brent crude (BZ=F) also fell to hover near $64 per barrel.

      The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) are considering a plan to increase output by as much as 500,000 barrels per day in November, which would be three times the agreed-upon increase for October, as Saudi Arabia aims to reclaim market share.

    • Mortgage rates rise for second straight week, sapping refinancing demand

      Yahoo Finance’s Claire Boston reports:

      Read more here.

    • Ines Ferré

      US hiring plans sink to lowest since 2009 in September as labor market slowdown continues

      Yahoo Finance’s Emma Ockerman reports:

      Read more here.

    • Fermi stock bounces around in second day of trading

      Fermi (FRMI) stock swung back and forth on Thursday after rising over 54% in its first day of trading on Wednesday.

      Shares of the data center REIT rose 9% in premarket trading before dipping 3% lower. At last check, the stock dived

      The real estate trust co-founded by former US Energy Secretary Rick Perry aims to build hyperscale data centers and power grids to meet the power demands of artificial intelligence. Its development-stage campus, known as the “President Donald J. Trump Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus,” spans more than 5,000 acres of land in the Texas Panhandle.

      “The biggest reason that we went public is we have a global supply chain, and I think it makes it easier for our critical vendors to know who we are if we’re a public company,” Fermi America Co-Founder and CEO Toby Neugebauer told Yahoo Finance’s Market Domination. “The No. 1 race on the planet right now is for gas generation and the components associated with electron generation, and we want our customers … or our vendors to feel good about us.”

    • OpenAI valuation spurs stock rally in Nvidia, AI chipmakers

      Excitement over OpenAI’s (OPAI.PVT) $500 billion valuation sparked a rally in AI stocks on Thursday, after the company surpassed Elon Musk’s SpaceX (SPAX.PVT) as the most valuable startup.

      Shares of AI chipmakers Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), and AMD (AMD) gained about 1.5%, 2%, and 3%, respectively, in early trading.

      Nvidia stock hit an intraday all-time high of $190 on Thursday morning, as optimism around AI chip demand eased investors’ concerns about Nvidia’s $100 billion investment in OpenAI.

      It’s been a news-filled week for OpenAI, which released its new video generation AI model, Sora, and announced a partnership with Samsung (005930.KS) and SK Hynix (000660.KS) to increase the supply of advanced memory chips. Current and former OpenAI employees also sold about $6.6 billion of stock to investors, which is what boosted the ChatGPT maker’s valuation to an estimated $500 billion.

    • Tesla reports blowout Q3 deliveries as buyers plow in before federal tax credit expires

      Tesla (TSLA) reported third quarter global deliveries that blew past estimates, initially lifting the stock about 3% at the open. However, shares of the electric vehicle maker gave way in early trading, falling by 1% as of 9:45 a.m. ET.

      Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian reports:

      Read more here.

    • S&P 500, Nasdaq rise at the open as AI optimism boosts tech stocks

      US stocks opened higher on Thursday, as the buzz around artificial intelligence lifted tech stocks, even as the US government entered its second day of shutdown. OpenAI’s (OPAI.PVT) $500 billion valuation helped spur that excitement for AI.

      The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led gains, advancing 0.5% at the open. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.2%, building on a record high that saw the major index climb above 6,700 for the first time on Wednesday. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) nudged below the flat line.

      Meanwhile, Treasury yields held steady after private payrolls data released Wednesday raised investors bets on a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in October. The 10-year yield (^TNX) rose by 1 basis point to 4.11%.

    • Bessent on the government shutdown: ‘We could see a hit to the GDP’

      As the federal government enters day two of a shutdown, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned the gridlock could slow US economic growth.

      “This isn’t the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP,” Bessent told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth, and a hit to working America.”

      The US’s gross domestic product grew at an annualized rate of 3.8% in the third quarter, growing for the second straight quarter after growth contracted in the first quarter.

      On Wednesday, US senators failed to advance a plan to fund the government after another round of votes. But as Yahoo Finance’s Ben Werschkul notes, the White House also appears poised to use the shutdown as an opportunity to expand Trump’s powers to potentially fire government workers or cut programs.

      “A lot of good can come down from shutdowns,” Trump said ahead of the stoppage. “We can get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t want, and they’d be Democrat things.”

    • Brett LoGiurato

      More evidence of the ‘low hire, low fire’ labor market

      Layoffs fell in September, but companies’ hiring plans stood at their lowest level since the Great Recession era, according to data from the firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released Thursday.

      The report is part of a slew of private data in higher focus, with government data delayed or postponed during the federal government shutdown.

      Reuters reports:

      Read more here.

    • FICO stock soars after the data company begins offering scores directly to lenders

      Fair Isaac (FICO), a data analytics company that provides measures of consumer risk, said on Thursday that it would begin selling FICO scores directly to mortgage lenders, circumventing the three major credit bureaus.

      FICO stock soared nearly 19% in premarket trading on Thursday, while shares of credit bureaus TransUnion (TRU) and Equifax (EFX) fell 12% each. Experian (EXPN.L) stock, which trades on the London exchange, also dropped 5%.

      FICO will sell scores to lenders for a royalty fee of $4.95 per score, undercutting the fees from resellers by 50% on average, the company said. FICO-score mortgage loans that close will also incur a fee of $33.

      The move comes as the company faces competition from its lone rival, VantageScore Solutions. In July, government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dealt a blow to FICO by giving lenders a green light to use VantageScore to buy a home.

      Since July 8, excluding today’s premarket move, FICO shares have declined by around 20%. If today’s upswing holds, the stock will have regained nearly all its losses since then.

    • Jenny McCall

      Buffett’s Berkshire to pay nearly $10B for Occidental’s OxyChem

      Warren Buffett announced his biggest deal in years on Thursday with Berkshire Hathaway’s $9.7 billion acquisition of Occidental Petroleum’s (OXY) chemical division.

      AP reports:

      Read more here.

    • Jenny McCall

      Amazon’s stock appeal hit by intensifying cloud competition

      Despite Amazon’s (AMZN) cloud-computing business helping it’s shares rise for almost two decades, the eCommerce giant is now facing increasing pressure from rivals Microsoft (MSFT) and Oracle (ORCL), impacting its stock appeal.

      Bloomberg News reports:

      Read more here.

    • Jenny McCall

      Good morning. Here’s what’s happening today.

    • OpenAI’s valuation soars to $500 billion, topping Musk’s SpaceX

      OpenAI (OPAI.PVT) has completed a deal to help employees sell shares in the company at a $500 billion valuation, propelling the ChatGPT owner past Elon Musk’s SpaceX (SPAX.PVT) to become the world’s largest startup.

      Bloomberg reports:

      Read more here.

    • Jenny McCall

      Premarket trending tickers: Equifax, Alibaba, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix

      Here’s a look at some of the top stocks trending in premarket trading:

      Equifax Inc. (EFX) stock slid 10% in premarket trading on Thursday after Fair Issac announced it would license its credit scores directly to mortgage resellers, raising concerns among major credit unions.

      Alibaba (BABA) stock rose 2% before the bell on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) raised its price target for the eCommerce giant.

      Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (005930.KS) gained 3% and SK hynix Inc. (000660.KS) shares rose 9% on Thursday following a deal with OpenAI to support the ChatGPT maker’s expansive Stargate artificial intelligence data centre project.



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